From Message to Messenger: Should Politicians Lead-by-Example to Increase Compliance with Public Health Directives?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study proposes that in order to increase compliance with government directives during health crises, we should consider the message as well as the messenger. Prior research shows that highly instructional crisis communication increases compliance during acute crisis situations. Crisis communication literature provides no clear answers on how to address prolonged crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, however. We examined the impact of crisis communication on compliance with health directives in March – April 2021, during the third wave of the pandemic in Belgium. Two field experiments were conducted at two different points in time. Participants received an informational message from Belgian authorities, that was either highly instructional or not. Next, they watched a set of messages from traditional and social media, depicting Belgian politicians setting a good or a bad example in terms of adhering to public health directives. Instructional messages only proved to be effective in the first study. Leading-by-example had a stronger impact, especially in study two. During the third wave of COVID-19, Belgian people seemed more inclined to follow public health directives when politicians set the right example, due to an increase in trust in the government. Bad examples, however, decreased compliance.